“Beijing has turned Chinese communities in the U.S. into its own backyard,” reads petition letters given to the representatives, addressed to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President George Bush. “The U.S. government should investigate who is behind the violence in Flushing, and expel Peng.”
Falun Gong practitioners met representatives from the China and Mongolia Desk and Asian Pacific Office of the State Department, who said they would investigate the incidents in Flushing. Evidence of the attacks was presented to the representatives, including photos, video footage, and eye witness accounts from people attacked.
Since May 17, mobs have threatened and sometimes violently attacked Falun Gong practitioners in Flushing. The Chinese Consulate of New York and local communist-friendly media played on the patriotic sentiment in the Chinese community after the large earthquake in Sichuan, China—inciting anger against Falun Gong practitioners with false claims that they were disrupting earthquake relief efforts.
Twelve from the mobs have been arrested, while no practitioners have been arrested. Flushing residents have also reported that they were offered money to publicly slander Falun Gong.
